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2SLGBTQIA+ group bullies small Canadian town for rejecting ‘pride flag’

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From LifeSiteNews

By Jonathon Van Maren

Borderland Pride will donate one-third of the financial compensation paid to us by the municipality directly to the Emo Public Library, on the condition that it host a drag story time event, free to all to attend, on a date of our choosing this year.

An Ontario Human Rights Tribunal fined the small Ontario town of Emo (population 1,200) $15,000 for refusing to fly the “pride flag” four years ago in June 2020. Borderland Pride, a small LGBT activist, sued the town and Emo Mayor Harold McQuaker — 10 grand will have to be forked over by the township, and five grand by McQuaker himself. In short, the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal decided that elected officials have a legal obligation to express support for an ideological movement regardless of what their constituents think of that fact.

As I noted earlier, the worst part is not even the forced cash payouts — it is the fact that both the mayor and the chief administrative officer of the Emo municipality were ordered to complete a “Human Rights 101” course “offered” by the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal within 30 days. In other words, the mayor and CAO are being forced to take a re-education class so that the next time the LGBT activists show up and demand something (and there’s always a next time), they’ll know their job is to do what they are told.

As Ontario adjudicator Karen Dawson wrote in her decision: “I find that $15,000 is an appropriate level of compensation for Borderland Pride’s injury to dignity, feelings and self-respect.” Having seen a few “Pride” celebrations, I’d say that the primary damages to “dignity” and “self-respect” are done by the LGBT activists themselves — but it is extraordinary that the adjudicator didn’t even bother to pretend that she wasn’t penalizing the mayor and small town of Emo for hurting the feelings of LGBT activists.

The fact that small towns are being targeted by LGBT activists isn’t an accident by the way. It is part of a strategy. I know of small towns in the prairies where LGBT activists demanded a “Pride” parade and then drove in participants from larger cities to make sure there were enough people for a parade. They like to force their agenda on small towns in rural areas in particular because they want to confront those who do not share their beliefs — and they know they have the power to do so. Here is how this grift generally unfolds.

  1. LGBT activists insist that everybody fly the LGBT flag to overtly announce support for their ideology.
  2. Some institutions decline to fly this flag for reasons ranging from religious to community unity.
  3. LGBT activists then characterize this refusal to pro-actively show support for their agenda as a “backlash.” Canadian media obediently characterizes it as such. LGBT activists are now “victims” of their targets’ refusal to participate in the narrative they themselves have created.

Which is precisely how the CBC covered this story by the way. The headline should have been “Small town mayor ordered to take re-education camp after declining to fly LGBT flag on government property” or “Small town bullied by LGBT activists.” It was: “Ontario Human Rights Tribunal fines Emo Township for refusing Pride proclamation.” Notice the wording: The aggression, this headline implies, comes from those “refusing Pride proclamation” rather than those demanding a “Pride” proclamation. That wording is no accident.

LGBT activists are good at this game. Most municipalities choose to fold without protest when the rainbow mafia makes its demands — “nice little township you have there, it’d be a shame if we smeared it in the national press.” If you think I’m exaggerating, take a moment to skim-read Borderland Pride’s “Open Letter” of April 5, 2024 (all bolded sections theirs). I am including this letter in its entirely to highlight their tactics:

Dear Mayor and Council:

Re:  Final Settlement Proposal

In June, our complaint about your bigoted and discriminatory decision to refuse to recognize Pride Month in 2020 will proceed to a full hearing on its merits before the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario. The hearing is scheduled for 5 days. Our legal team will be ready.

Our proceeding at the Tribunal is based in case law that has been settled in Ontario for 30 years. We cautioned you about this at the outset of this saga in May 2020 – after you made your ill-advised decision and we asked you to reconsider. In other words: you face an uphill battle in this hearing, and are likely going to lose and be ordered to pay significant compensation to us and the other complainants for violating the Human Rights Code.

Even if you do win (which is a very remote possibility, and one we would likely seek judicial review of), you cannot recover your legal costs at the Tribunal. We imagine that your lawyers have already told you this. It is unclear why you are not heeding that advice, especially after losing your motion to have our claim against the individual council members dismissed.

Emo taxpayers must understand that you have now spent tens of thousands of dollars of their money on exorbitant legal fees to defend the homophobia and transphobia of Harold McQuaker, Harrold Boven, and Warren Toles. Despite those significant expenditures, it is unclear what has been paid for given the very limited material that has been served on us to-date. All of this is an inexcusable and foolish waste of taxpayer money at a time when your council is also hiking taxes and cutting local services.

Specifically, this is playing out while your council is soliciting public donations to keep the lights on at its public library, including accepting handouts from the local food bank. You’ve also hemorrhaged taxpayer money to pay for other discrimination around the council table — such as the six-figure pay equity sum owing after it was determined that you had been underpaying women on your staff for decades. And if Mr. McQuaker’s comments around the community are to be believed, that isn’t even the only workplace settlement you have had to cough up lately.

One would think that a small municipality with a small tax base that finds itself in a hole like this would stop digging. But here we are, on the eve of Emo being added to the list of homophobic towns in publicly reported Tribunal decisions, and you are still scratching your heads wondering why the municipality can’t entice new medical professionals to live and work there. It is breathtaking that you have not connected the dots between your defence of anti-2SLGBTQIA+ bigotry and its damage to the public image of your community. Your untenable legal position is simply worsening your municipality’s other challenges.

We sympathize with the hard-working members of the community who are watching this car accident in slow motion. That’s why, despite that you have rebuffed all prior efforts to settle on reasonable terms, we want to offer a final off-ramp from this impending national public relations tire fire for your council and community. We are even willing to pitch in to support the municipality in its time of need.

Here’s our proposal:

  1. You will agree to the settlement terms extended to you by our legal counsel at Cambridge LLP in March 2022, including the published apology, financial compensation (reduced from what we will seek from the Tribunal), diversity and inclusion training for council, and a commitment to adopt Pride proclamations in the future without stripping out their 2SLGBTQIA+-affirming language.
  2. Borderland Pride will donate one-third of the financial compensation paid to us by the municipality directly to the Emo Public Library, on the condition that it host a drag story time event, free to all to attend, on a date of our choosing this year.
  3. Borderland Pride will, before the end of 2024, host its next charitable drag event in Emo, the proceeds of which will support the Emo Public Library. The municipality will provide facilities for this event at no charge.

This is a good deal. You should take it. The alternative is to continue to waste taxpayer money fighting a losing battle in defence of bigotry and hate. That path will be embarrassing for your municipality and council, not to mention all of those with ties to your community and who expect better from its leadership.

Look at it this way: can you really demand that your voters pay more in taxes and offer up donations to support basic municipal services while also refusing an offer that could generate revenue and end your litigation bills? If this crusade of yours isn’t really about your prejudice and contempt for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, we look forward to your acceptance of our terms, which can be transmitted to our legal counsel at Cambridge LLP.

This offer remains open until May 3, 2024.

Sincerely,

BORDERLAND PRIDE

Douglas W. Judson (he/him)

Co-Chair/Director

Notice here, that not giving in to LGBT demands is portrayed as proactive aggression. Judson refers to the council declining to endorse his ideology as a “crusade,” when it is obvious to any clear-minded observer that the crusade is his. Additionally, Judson has a second trick up his sleeve — bring drag queens into the local library to read to kids, and we’ll even give you some of the money we extorted to pay for it! Again, this is smart strategy — but it should be recognized for what it is. The LGBT movement wants every small town in the country to overhaul its operations in line with their ideology. They know how to get what they want, too.

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Jonathon’s writings have been translated into more than six languages and in addition to LifeSiteNews, has been published in the National PostNational ReviewFirst Things, The Federalist, The American Conservative, The Stream, the Jewish Independent, the Hamilton SpectatorReformed Perspective Magazine, and LifeNews, among others. He is a contributing editor to The European Conservative.

His insights have been featured on CTV, Global News, and the CBC, as well as over twenty radio stations. He regularly speaks on a variety of social issues at universities, high schools, churches, and other functions in Canada, the United States, and Europe.

He is the author of The Culture WarSeeing is Believing: Why Our Culture Must Face the Victims of AbortionPatriots: The Untold Story of Ireland’s Pro-Life MovementPrairie Lion: The Life and Times of Ted Byfield, and co-author of A Guide to Discussing Assisted Suicide with Blaise Alleyne.

Jonathon serves as the communications director for the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform.

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2025 Federal Election

It’s on! Federal Election called for April 28

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New release from Conservative Party Communications

Canada First—For A Change

Today, the Liberals are asking for a fourth term in power, after swapping Justin Trudeau for his economic advisor and handpicked successor, Mark Carney.

After the lost Liberal decade, the question is whether Canadians can afford a fourth term of out-of-touch Liberals, inflating housing and food costs, unleashing crime, ruining immigration, hiking taxes, blocking resource jobs and making our economy weak and reliant on the U.S.?

Or is it time to put Canada First—FOR A CHANGE, with a new Conservative government that will axe taxes, build homes, cut waste, lock-up criminals, secure our borders and unleash our resources to bring home our jobs and stand up to Trump from a position of strength?

Now, I know many people are anxious and angry about the outrageous attacks that President Trump has made against our country. You worry about the cost of his unjust tariffs on your jobs and threats to our sovereignty. Our challenge now is to turn that anger and anxiety into action.

We must become strong, self-reliant and stand on our own feet—to stand up to the AmericansWe will stare down this unprovoked threat with steely resolve, because, be assured, we will never be part of the United States and we will never ever give up our sovereignty and our freedom.

I will protect Canada. And I will always put our country first.

But before I tell you how, let me tell you why.

This country has given me everything. Nowhere else would my story be possible.

I was born to a 16-year-old single mom, who put me up for adoption to two schoolteachers. They taught me that the promise of Canada was that anyone from anywhere can achieve anything.

This country kept that promise to me. Now I want to restore that promise for all Canadians, so hard work again gets everyone a great life in a beautiful house on a safe street under our proud flag.

Because after the lost Liberal decade, that promise is broken. Liberal taxes drove food prices up 37% faster in Canada than in the U.S.

Single moms go to bed hungry worried about how they will feed their children in the morning, and seniors choose between eating and heating. Housing costs have doubled, as Liberals inflated demand with out-of-control immigration and money printing, and blocked homebuilding with bureaucracy—so for the first time in our history young Canadians can’t imagine affording their own place to live.

Open borders and Liberal crime and drug laws unleashed violence, disorder, and deadly overdoses. Ten years of Liberals hiking taxes and blocking resource projects gave Canada the worst growth in the G7 and sent a half-trillion dollars of Canadian investment to the U.S. ALL THAT, BEFORE THE TRUMP TARIFFS. Their radical post-national, borderless, globalist ideology has divided and weakened our country.

Now, desperate for a fourth term, the Liberals have swapped Justin Trudeau for his economic advisor and hand-picked successor, Mark Carney. But a Liberal is a Liberal is a Liberal. It’s still the same old Liberal MPs, same Liberal ministers, same Liberal advisors, same Liberal elites and same Liberal broken promises of the last 10 years.

We cannot afford another lost Liberal decade. We need to put Canada First—for a change, with a new Conservative Government to axe taxes, reward work, unleash entrepreneurs, harvest our resources, make things here, build homes for our youth, secure our borders, rebuild our military, honour our history and proudly raise our flag.

It starts with a big Bring It Home Tax Cut on work, homes, energy and investment. Lower taxes for a change to bring home businesses and jobs and let Canadians bring home more of their paycheques.

That starts with axing the carbon tax—a tax that the Liberals, with Mr. Carney’s enthusiastic support, have imposed and increased for seven years; a tax that is still in law, despite the government hiding it from gas stations for 30 days leading up to the election; a tax they will bring back bigger than ever before if re-elected.

On this point, Mr. Carney and Mr. Trump agree. They both want to tax Canadian industry—Carney’s carbon tax and Trump’s tariffs will send our jobs south.

But I won’t let that happen. A new Conservative government will fully repeal the Liberal carbon tax law and axe the tax for everything, for everyone, for real, for good, for a change.

We will also axe the sales tax on new homes and incentivize municipalities to speed up permits, free up land and cut building taxes to restore the dream of homeownership.

We will bring home our resource jobs—for a change. That means repealing the Liberal No-New-Pipelines Law C-69, lifting the Liberal cap on energy that Carney said he will keep, and quickly approving LNG plants, pipelines, mines, and major projects. New Canada First Shovel Ready Zones will pre-permit big projects, so industry can stop filling out paperwork and start building now.

With a new national pipeline—like the one the Liberals blocked a few years back—we could send prairie oil to the Maritimes and over the Atlantic to break Europe’s dependence on Putin while we break our dependence on the United States.

We will knock down interprovincial trade barriers creating one open free market economy. Moving more goods, services, resources and people across the country will bring it home and bring us together as a country.

We will restore the promise of safe communities by stopping the crime—for a change. That means repealing the Liberal catch-and-release laws and imposing mandatory jail time for repeat offenders, banning hard drugs and offering generous recovery treatment to bring our loved ones home drug-free.

We will cap immigration, stop the radical and dangerous Liberal Century Initiative that would balloon Canada’s population to 100 million people, more than doubling the population of our cities during a housing crisis. We will keep out and deport criminals, stop fraud and crack down on bogus refugee claims. On immigration, like everything else, we will put Canada First. For a change.

We will rebuild our military for a change with new ice breakers, a new arctic base, more troops, and better support for our veterans.

Our troops and veterans inspire the best of what is Canada. They also remind us that we are a tough, rugged, strong, hearty people. We do not go looking for a fight. But we are always ready if one comes looking for us.

None of this will be easy. But making and defending Canada was not easy. And with change there is hope.

So I say: To the mother struggling to afford groceries, change is on the way.

To the 35-year-old who wants to move out of mom’s basement, buy a home and start a family, hope is on the way.

For the seniors, choosing between heating and eating, and for everyone who wonders what happened to the Canada they knew and love, hope and change are on the way.

A new Conservative government will restore the Canadian promise that the Liberals broke. The promise that anyone from anywhere can achieve anything—That hard work gets you a great life, in a beautiful house, on a safe street, wrapped in the protective arms of a solid border, defended by brave soldiers under our proud flag.

To preserve that flag and its promise we must work together, fight together and win together.

For our people.

For our land.

For our home. For Canada First – For a change.

Let’s bring it home.

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David Clinton

You’re Actually Voting for THEM? But why?

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  By David Clinton

Putting the “dialog” back in dialog

I hate it when public figures suggest that serious issues require a “dialog” or a “conversation”. That’s because real dialog and real conversation involve bi-directional communication, which is something very few public figures seem ready to undertake. Still, it would be nice is there was some practical mechanism through which a conversation could happen.

It should be obvious – and I’m sure you’ll agree – that no intelligent individual will be voting in the coming federal election for any party besides the one I’ve chosen. And yet I’ve got a nagging sense that, inexplicably, many of you have other plans. Which, since only intelligent people read The Audit, leads me directly to an epistemological conflict.

I have my doubts about the prospects for meaningful leadership debates. Even if such events are being planned, they’ll probably produce more shouting and slogans than a useful comparison of policy positions.

And I have remarkably little patience for opinion polls. Even if they turn out to have been accurate, they tell us absolutely nothing about what Canadians actually want. Poll numbers may be valuable to party campaign planners, but there’s very little there for me.

If I can’t even visualize the thinking taking place in other camps, I’m missing a big part of Canada’s biggest story. And I really don’t like being left out.

So I decided to ask you for your thoughts. I’d love for each of you to take a super-simple, one question survey. I’m not really interested in how you’re planning to vote, but why. I’m asked for open-ended explanations that justify your choice. Will your vote be a protest against something you don’t like or an expression of your confidence in one particular party? Is it just one issue that’s pushing you to the polling station or a whole set?

I’d do this as a Substack survey, but the Substack platform associates way too much of your private information with the results. I really, really want this one to be truly anonymous.

And when I say this is a “super simple” survey, I mean it. To make sure that absolutely no personal data accompanies your answers (and to save me having to work harder), the survey page is a charming throwback to PHP code in all its 1996 glory.

So please do take the survey: theaudit.ca/voting.

If there are enough responses, I plan to share my analysis of patterns and trends through The Audit.

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